To retain current customers and add new service accounts, mobile network operators exploit new technologies and put forward associated new services. Yet, investment cycle from network deployment, product rollout, and revenue collection is substantially long (e.g., 3-5 years). In addition, deployment of mobile networks based on new technologies and associated services significantly erode legacy network deployments (e.g., land-line telephony, digital cellular networks, etc.) and associated investment, much of which is substantive not only in connection with deployment but also with maintenance and operation. Therefore, migration towards advanced network technologies and rich, complex communication services proceeds at slower pace than often planned.
To preserve investments on legacy networks and exploit packet-based (e.g., internet protocol (IP)-based) communication services, telephone number mapping (ENUM) provides a technological framework that unifies telephone numbers within E.164 standard with IP-based domain names. Such unification allows a telephone number assigned to a telephone that operates in any network technology, including legacy networks, to be resolved to an internet address and thus be exposed to IP-based services (e.g., voice over IP (VoIP), IP multimedia services, etc.). Yet, ENUM platforms typically are dedicated to conversion of telephone numbers into an internet address related with a dedicated service, even though network operators generally develop suites of services directed to multiple customer segments in order to preserve and gain market share. Converged ENUM platforms have been exploited marginally thus far.